Hi! I’m Kendra, DJJ’s new Program Associate for Racial Equity (PARE or, the Pear, if you will). I’m not new to DJJ, but this position is, and I’m so excited to work with all of you and with folks in similar roles across the country to grow and develop it. I remember hearing about DJJ starting up just as I was graduating from Roeper and moving down to North Carolina, where I was an active leader in our sister organization, Carolina Jews for Justice. In 2016, I visited Detroit for the holidays and found myself at the DJJ Festival of Rights Chanukah party. I remember thinking, “I like these people.”

For the past year, I’ve worked with DJJ as an intern, supporting staff on a number of projects and getting us ready to launch our new organizing structure - all the while dreaming and scheming up a way to stick around. In this role, I’ll be working to co-create community among Jews of Color in Metro Detroit  and working with several partner synagogues to deepen their racial justice education. Both pieces of this work are deeply personal for me. While my own community of Jews of Color and Jews committed to unlearning and undoing white supremacy spans across the country, I feel it’s essential to contribute to that work here, in the place where I’m from.

And now a little bit about me: 

• I was born and raised in Pontiac and now call Detroit home
• I run an instagram called gay4soup (please send me your soupy creations!)
• The fastest I’ve completed the New York Times Mini Crossword was 14 seconds 
• I just learned how to ride a bike at the ripe old age of 23
• If you’re a Duke fan I’m sorry but we can’t be friends (Go Heels!)

Photo of Kendra dressed as broccoli at
DJJ's Purim Extravaganza 2020

Kendra's position is supported by the Jews of Color Initiative.